Chapter 2

Percy wasn't falling but there was no ground beneath his feet. The frightening lack of light was only eclipsed by equivalent lack of light, and though there was nothing in sight Percy could feel everything he had ever known surrounding him just waiting to be. What was this?

He tried to remember. Before this he had been about to trap himself in Tartarus to save his the world he knew. Was that was this was? Could Tartarus be nothing more than a blank expanses of inexistence? No Tartarus was the terrifying hell from which monsters were born. Surely he would be able to see these monsters.

Suddenly as he thought of all the unformed monsters in Tartarus they appeared! By instinct Percy reached for his pocket for his sword, but came up empty handed. The monsters, however, remained motionless. They were there, but their expressions were blank. Monsters enough to fill a coliseum sat as lifeless husks. Percy then was one begin to move out of the corner of his eye. Percy turned to face it, but even before he could pick out which one it had been it was gone.

Tensed for action Percy waited his overactive mind working out means for escape. The issue was that since there was nothing here but dormant monsters Percy had no way of running or even moving from the spot where he floated. He tried flailing and kicking trying to swim his way out but to no avail. It was as if he now existed in the frictionless vacuum his physics class always talked about.

Frustrated he flailed still more viciously wishing these monsters would just disappear. And they did. Again he was alone in an eternal void. Was this world influenced by his thoughts? So he thought. "Take me to my friends. Take me to Annabeth. Show her to me!"

Nothing.

What was it then? Percy's mind raced. Thinking had never been his strong suit, but there had to be something. There must be some way to escape the apparently desolate but impossibly dense void. His overactive mind reached for anything and when it found no probable explanation it reached for everything. His imagination raced through all his memories and experiences drawing insane conclusions. Magic and gods didn't give any course of action to take his enemies couldn't have done this.

Percy thought through every legend and story he could remember but there was nothing until he tried to recall old legends of the now faded god of the wild. As soon as he thought of Pan Percy found his feet planted a ground that hadn't been there before. Now standing in the densest and most wild forest Percy had ever dared imagine and the lost god sat in a tree playing a set of reed pipes too some of the most bizarre creatures to ever roam the earth.

"Pan!?" Percy called up to the tree not yet daring to move for fear of tripping over the roots and brush that covered the ground.

Pan looked up apparently shocked to hear his name. He cocked his head and said "Hello?"

"Umm," Percy began not sure of what to say, "I'm Percy Jackson… Grover's friend."

"I remember you," Pan said. "I transferred some of my essence to you as I faded. How can you be here?"

"I don't even know where here is," Percy said all the more confused now about how Pan could be here since he remembers the time in the labyrinth where he faded from existence.

"Neither do I," Pan said. "But as far as I can tell in this world there is no way to contact anyone from the mortal world."

"But then how can I talk to you?" Percy asked. "And how are we in a forest? And how are these creatures here?"

"We are all a part of this world now I suppose," Pan replied. "As for the forest, it is all a construct of my imagination. It's a reflection of my consciousness really."

Percy tried to process this. This was a world separate from the one he knew. In this world the consciousness of a faded god could exist but his friends couldn't. But then why would he be here?

"So how were things in the mortal world?" Pan inquired. "Did the titan king overthrow Olympus?" He asked so nonchalantly. As if he didn't care and nothing that happened could impact him.

"No," Percy replied. "They were defeated. The latest issue has been the earth mother and the giants opening the doors of death."

"Huh," Pan half chuckled now apparently somewhat interested. "You're better off here then. There's no way those doors will ever close again."

"You're wrong," Percy said with his frustration with Pan's detachment seeping through. "Hera united Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter and Jason and I closed the doors."

That got Pan's attention. He now looked at me with an interest that relit the wild eyes Percy had glimpsed just before Pan faded. "Then you didn't fade from the world. You left."

"What?" I was now more confused than ever, and I knew a thing or two about being confused. I began to feel rushed. The forest surrounding them seemed to be growing more active and full with each passing moment.

"All things are born of Chaos and to him all things return, but you didn't fall back into the void. You jumped! Are jumping across the chasm!"

"Chaos?" my head began to swim as I now imagined seeing and hearing and feeling impossible things.

"Yes Percy," said a figure now fading in to existence before him. "Just a little further and I'll explain everything."

I could hardly bear it anymore. It felt like I was experiencing everything all at once. My heart soared as I fell in love, but fell as it broke. I felt all of the pain and fear of death and at the same time I felt the awakening and wonder of being born, and all this was pulling at my very soul so greatly I could hardly be aware of my own screams.

"You can make it Percy," said the figure. "You have to stretch your mind body and soul, but you can survive this."

I cried and screamed now unable to tell if I was hunched over in an impossible forest or in a dark dank cave or lying in the sun or a million other things. Then I realized I had felt this before. Not this exactly,but in the river Styx I had felt my soul being torn from my body so much that I was nearly lost forever. Back then the only thing that had saved me was the memory of Annabeth. It was difficult and painful but I began to recall this and reach for another memory of my girlfriend to sew together the pieces of my now ragged soul.

I felt a hug. She had appeared was hugging me. I still felt like I was everywhere at once but I was with her first. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and hugged Annabeth to anchor myself to that point. Wherever we were, we were together, and her arms wrapped around him held him together like glue to a shattered vase. And Percy became collected and opened his eyes.